In Northamptonshire five schools, one college and seven childcare providers were judged to be providing outstanding care, education or skills.

For one Northamptonshire school, Bishop Stopford School, Kettering, it is their third time in the list after having been judged to be outstanding in three of their inspections over the last fifteen years. See accompanying chart for details.

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills, Christine Gilbert, said:

"Its encouraging to see so much outstanding provision across all areas of education and care and I pay tribute to all who contributed to this success. The number of outstanding providers has risen by 989 compared to last year.

"Congratulations are also particularly deserved for those schools, such as Bishop Stopford, categorised as outstanding in each of their inspection reports over the past fifteen years"

Outstanding providers are given a distinctive 'outstanding' logo which they can use on documents and their website to communicate their achievement.